How many times do catch yourself saying, “just a minute” each day?
Honestly, I say it a lot!
It’s a habit for me when the kids ask for a snack, to help them with piano lessons, to get the glue stick they can’t reach in the back of the drawer, to open the garage door, to check their homework, etc.
As I was thinking about this the other day, I realized there are SO many things I can do to better organize my home and simplify my life in “just a minute” (or maybe a few minutes!)
If you have “just a minute” (or ten minutes) in between appointments, while you wait for the water to boil, or while your kids are playing with the neighbors, see if you can quickly tackle one or more of the itesm below.
NOTE: I realize each task individually will not drastically improve the state of your home or instantly simplify your life, but OVER TIME, you will not only declutter, better organize, simplify, and clean your home, you’ll also develop the invaluable habits of utilizing your time efficiently and always looking to better your spaces.
PAPER CLUTTER:
You won’t completely eliminate all paper clutter from your home in just 10 minutes, but you might be surprised how much damage you can do to some of those piles!
1. Make your to-do list for the day!
2. Recycle the mail (most of it is junk anyway!)
3. Remove old artwork and drawings from your refrigerator to make room for new projects (I take a picture of the artwork and recycle the drawings… I rarely save the actual papers).
4. Recycle magazines older than 1 year and newspapers older than 1 week.
5. Purge your cookbooks; only keep the ones you really love and use.
6. Weed through your recipe box and toss the ones you know you’ll never make (or that you can easily find online).
7. Work through ONE of the paper piles on your kitchen counter or in your office.
8. Grab a pad of paper and test pens and markers. Toss any pens/markers that don’t work, and sharpen the pencils (this is a great job for kids too).
KITCHEN CLUTTER:
There are SO many quick decluttering projects you can do in the kitchen — I like to do them while I wait for water to boil, for the oven to preheat, or for my kids to finish their breakfast.
9. Toss expired or stale foods from your pantry.
10. Toss anything past its prime in your refrigerator.
11. Weed through the freezer and plan to use up food that has been sitting around for a while.
12. Create your menu plan for the week (or at least for today).
13. Make a grocery list.
14. Clean out the dishwasher (and load it again, if necessary).
15. Clean food spills on your stovetop.
16. Reorganize food storage containers — toss lids without containers or containers without lids.
17. Wipe down the fronts of your appliances.
18. Wipe out produce drawers and evaluate what produce you should use first.
19. Wipe out the silverware drawer and remove anything that shouldn’t “live” in that drawer.
20. Toss or donate old water bottles, plastic souvenir cups, extra straws, can cozies, or other beverage items you no longer need.
21. Sort through your junk drawer.
CLOTHES CLUTTER:
As I’ve mentioned before, I keep paper grocery bags or large diaper boxes in most of our closets as convenient drop spots for items that no longer fit or anything we don’t wear. This saves lots of time decluttering later, and makes trips to the donation center a breeze.
Here are a few ways you can pare down your clothes clutter in less than 10 minutes!
22. Take a donation bag into your bedroom and load it up with anything you know you won’t wear (do as much as you can in 10 minutes).
23. Repeat this process with all the other closets in your home — you’ll be amazed at how much you can declutter in 10-minute intervals and kids can help with this too!
24. Straighten the shoes and boots in your mudroom or entryway.
25. Toss out mismatched and/or lone socks.
26. Fold a load of laundry AND put it away!
27. Reorganize one drawer in your dresser (or a child’s dresser).
28. Swap out seasonal clothing (if you’re the type who changes your closet around for different seasons).
29. Clean out your purse/wallet/diaper bag.
30. Restock purse/wallet/diaper bag if necessary.
LIVING AREA CLUTTER:
I consider the living areas to be anywhere I can easily see when I walk into the house (kitchen, dining room, living room, office). I like these spaces to be relatively clutter-free so I’m not staring at clutter and mess all day long.
Yes, they get messy EVERY day… but we also diligently put them back to “normal” again every day (usually before lunch, before dinner, and before bed). It makes such a big difference in the overall feel of our home — and it’s so nice to wake up to a clean house every morning!
31. Fold all blankets, put them away, and place pillows back on furniture (this makes such a big difference).
32. Bring any dirty dishes to the kitchen and load the dishwasher.
33. Put all books, movies, magazines, and newspapers away.
34. Put toys and games away.
35. Fill a bag, box, or laundry basket with anything that doesn’t belong in your living space (you can put the items away later… just get the spaces decluttered for now).
36. Dust one room and straighten the flat surfaces as you dust.
37. Vacuum or sweep one (or 2) room(s).
38. Wash one set of windows (yes, you should be able to do this in 10 minutes!)
39. Empty all trash and put new bags in wastebaskets.
BATHROOM CLUTTER:
This is one of the hardest areas for me — mainly because I don’t regularly spend all that much time in the bathroom, so I never think to just “hang out” for 10 minutes and purge!
When the kids were younger, I often cleaned and organized their bathroom while they were taking a bath at night. Now I just try to fit in little bits of time throughout the week to keep our bathrooms neat and clean.
40. Toss expired medication and first aid items. (How I organize our medicine cabinet)
41. Make note of any prescriptions, over-the-counter meds, and other first aid items you need to stock up on again.
42. Purge any makeup or cosmetic item you no longer want or use.
44. Remove hair from your hairbrush, purge combs and brushes you no longer want, and wash the rest using this simple technique.
45. Weed through hair accessories.
46. Toss empty bottles and combine “like items” in your shower.
47. Clear off counters and put items away (or make a home for them to be put away).
48. Hang all towels and change out hand towels and washcloths (I do this every night).
49. Wipe down the counter, sink area, and toilet with a sanitizing wipe.
50. Wipe down the mirror(s).
I could EASILY add 50-100 more 10-minute tasks to this list — but I don’t want to overwhelm you. 😁
The point is… there are countless tasks you can do to clean, organize, and simplify your home and life in just a few minutes each day.
You don’t need huge chunks of time, you don’t need to hire a babysitter, you don’t need to give up all the other fun activities you want to do each day — you just need to make a conscious effort to continually and diligently tackle a couple of these quick tasks with the few extra minutes you have throughout the day.
RELATED READING: How to purge 100 things TODAY!
I know some of you are thinking, “but I don’t even have a few extra minutes” — to which my response is, “turn off your phone and computer for the afternoon and see how many extra minutes you come up with!”
The next time you say “just a minute” to a child, a friend, the person on the phone, etc. remind yourself of ALL the things you can actually do with “just a minute” (or 10) of spare time!
Happy decluttering!
Liane says
This was a favorite of mine. I just re-read it after moving a huge 3 ton box of cookbooks. I remember what you said about only keeping favorites. Today I took a stack of frequently used ones and searched Amazon for a kindle version. Sometimes kindle versions are awful but there’s no risk. You can return it. No questions asked. Well, you need a reason but they offer a choice like bought accidentally or changed my mind etc. Since I keep an old iPad mini on my counter, I can open any cookbook I’ve added to kindle library. I just eliminated a half ton of books. Lots of older folks don’t like computers or digital devices so I’m putting the books in the library’s donation box. That is if I can rent a fork lift….I’ll do that after I rent a dump truck to clean out the fireplace. But in a seriousness, find a way to do something in a new and better way and bless someone else is really a blessing in itself. The remodel removed an old secretary that my books were on so they were on the floor in a box and very sneakily causing a lot of stubbed toes.
Lisa says
I always wondered how to darn socks. I watched the video; seems doable! My brother’s family had a foreign exchange student a few years ago. She gave me a pair of socks that I LOVE. Holes are developing. I will definitely be trying to darn them when the time comes. Thanks always for doing the research.
Andrea says
oh good — glad to help give a little longevity to your favorite socks 🙂
Donna Marie says
We put large rubber bands (that you can buy in groups of 10 or so) around the top of our “trash” cans and empty them into the garbage trash bags weekly, so we save on the costs of trash bags (and the environment!) and only replace them when needed.
Andrea says
good idea — I sometimes just dump out the trash while holding the bag — rubber bands would probably be easier though 🙂
Tina aus Teltow says
Hello Andrea,
thank you for providing me with so many managable ideas. I would love to have more 10 minute ideas, since I often let those small packets of time go to waste.
Have a good week
Tina
Andrea says
haha — I think you could probably go through every room in your home and find dozens of 10-minutes projects — one drawer of the dresser or nightstand, 1 shelf in your pantry, closet, or fridge, one file folder of paperwork, etc. Just think small and do SOMETHING instead of nothing!
Kim says
These 10 minute tasks are just what I needed to remember. I utilized them today and already feel better about my productivity! That’s a great feeling.
Can’t wait to take a look at this Mama Bear publication.
Andrea says
oh good — glad to offer some helpful ideas 😉
you’ll like the Mama Bear ebook — not surprisingly, I learned a lot!
Joy says
Love this! Thank you for sharing, Andrea! I hope to consciously and intentionally do this every single day. Wish me luck, haha!
Seriously though, I think this is wonderful! 🙂
Blessings and joy!
Andrea says
Good Luck Joy — you can do it!
Lynn says
I love this! Thank you! I am trying to be more productive by getting up 30 minutes earlier during the week. This is a great list to use to get things done.
Andrea says
awesome! I think you’ll be surprised what you can do in that 30 minutes!
Benda says
As I was reading your lists I often thought, “Hmm, I have my kids do that.” So if you take 5-10 minutes and have everyone in the house do 1 thing off the list then you’ve tackled lots of things at once! I have my kids (7 & 11) empty bathroom trash cans, collect laundry, pick-up their stuff. Often I’ll tell them take care of anything that’s yours (or you play with) that is in the kitchen (or whatever room) that doesn’t go there. I know that usually they just move the toys/books/whatever from the kitchen to their bed room, but I don’t live in their bed room! And then I can go behind and clean the actual room. (not take care of everything)
Andrea says
yes for sure! If the whole family pitches in, you’ll accomplish so much more!
Christine says
I like your comment on the end. A lot of times I check my phone and end up reading something for 10 minutes. Then I think, oh, I don’t have 3 minutes to clean the bathroom right now. That sounds stressful! But what I really mean is, I don’t WANT to clean the bathroom right now! 😉 And, a clean bathroom and less visual clutter will make me feel so much less stressed when I legitimately don’t have the time.
This is a constant internal struggle for me.
Andrea says
yeah, we’re all guilty of that at times! You are not alone!!
JJ says
This is great!!! Tonight I plan to implement your timer method to get some stuff done. I often do mini decluttering or prepping projects while I’m waiting for food to finish. Great ideas!!!
JJ says
Also, Andrea, do you out the pictures you take of their artwork in their monthly pages in their photo books you make them. Or do you do something else? Curious for ideas!!!! I am not a hoarder, but I find myself having a hard time letting go their artwork unless I give it to people. Haha!
Andrea says
I don’t have a specific way I handle it all the time — basically whatever I’m in the mood for. Many times, I just trash everything because I’m so tired of paper piles. Other times, I’ll take pictures of everything or even pictures of them standing next to the magnet board with all their artwork. Then I’ll put those pictures in their photo books — but lots of artworks just gets tossed!
Andrea says
good luck and happy organizing!!